The present invention relates to a pressurized gas discharge system for the safety containment of a nuclear reactor which includes a conduit having a filter arrangement with serially arranged filter elements consisting of stainless steel fiber packs.
It is assumed that, after a reactor melt-down accident, the gas pressure within the safety containment of a nuclear reactor will increase within a couple of days to a degree that gas should be discharged therefrom. There are provided therefore discharge apparatus for limiting or reducing the pressure by way of a duct which provides communication of the containment interior and the atmosphere, that is, a discharge stack via a filtering system. The present invention relates to such a filtering system.
The filtering systems utilized so far are not capable of safely handling the discharge of the gases under the given conditions involving a combination of water, steam, high temperatures and radiation.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a gas discharge system for the safety containment of a nuclear reactor which, with the use of stainless steel filter element packs, will permit to limit the containment pressure over a longer period of time and which remains functional over the whole period. Such a system needs to be resistant to high temperatures and corrosion, require little servicing and be highly reliable.